Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuinness Shares Sobering Thoughts on How We Consume Music

March 19, 2019

In this day and age, there aren’t many musicians that have succeeded both in the new age of technology and the old. Above & Beyond’s own Tony McGuiness is one of the lucky ones to have been a trail blazer in both the 2000’s and the 2010’s. Ahead of Miami Music Week, Tony sat down with Miami New Times to discuss the changing ways we discover music.

Our world today provides us with the easiest and most convenient avenues to discover and listen to music. We have multiple streaming services, music discovery apps, and outlets to share what we’ve found… all right at our finger tips. This wasn’t so a decade ago, as Tony explains.

“It used to be the lack of availability of music made it more valued. You’d go to a club and hear a song, and you’d have to track it down. Then you’d spend weeks getting to know it. An album was valuable because you spent money on it. People’s record collections were a display of their soul.”

Compare that to now, we can get music almost instantaneously. All we need to do is Shazam a song as soon as we hear it, and it gets automatically downloaded into your iTunes library. Tony continued to explain that in today’s streaming age, “music has become like electricity or water. There’s no less effort in creation, but in consumption it just comes out.” This also adds an unfair amount of pressure on producers. In order to keep up with the rapid pace of consumption, artists have to continuously put out music to satisfy fans’ craving and this could compromise their creativity and quality of production.

But the most profound comment from McGuinness came when he spoke about A&B and Anjunabeats’ fans. He explained that their fans are kind, loving, and share the same love for music. And from this, it’s ok to take in the moment with one another rather than trap yourself in social media.

“Before we retreat to our social media world, it’s a wonderful surprise to engage with people who like the same things.”

Try and think back to a time when you didn’t have a smart phone. All you needed to do was take in the moment with others around you. If you can remember doing this, then you’ll fully understand what Tony is saying. You’ll realize how special it is to share moments with others instead of being alone in your phone.

As Miami Music Week quickly approaches, I want to challenge you all to keep your phones in your pockets as much as possible. Every party will supply you with memories and friends you’ll have for a lifetime, so make sure to stay in the moment for them. Focus on that rather than how many likes you get.

If you want to read the full Miami New Times article, you can do so here. And if you haven’t gotten tickets to Above & Beyond at the RC Cola Plant, Anjunadeep, or the Anjunabeats pool party, you can snag those below.